I started my career as a photojournalist working on high pressure assignments for magazines like TIME and ESPN where I mastered the ability to build rapport with subjects and gain access quickly. Then, I adapted the skillset to working as a DP and DP/Director.
Putting people at ease; so we can work unobtrusively with confidence and agility is a key ingredient to making real, memorable images. Done properly, it opens doors and destroys facades. We get closer.
I’ve talked my way onto combat missions with Marines, into operating rooms with brain surgeons and up to the dinner tables of families whose language I didn’t speak. The trick is as simple as it is difficult. It works the same on big commercial sets as it does on the street: pay attention, be sincere, have respect, and-- know when, exactly to just get out of the way.